Captain Sams:
Today was quite exciting as everyone in the station is waiting for the "storm" bringing by the cold front. It is actually nice to have such a warm-up day before the big days so that we could spend some time fixing several holes left in the nets, getting everything ready for tomorrow. The high cloud cover all day kept thing nice and steady. In general, we ended up with 67 birds including 15 recaptured individuals.
A few days after Little Bear got their first House Finch, we also got ours today, and there are two of them, both male! We also caught 8 species of warblers in total, so the north wind last night was definitely favoring some movements across the area. Surprisingly, we also caught a new male Northern Cardinal today, and it is not a baby baby bird. It had replaced most of its juvenile feathers into the striking red ones, leaving only a few old feathers to be replaced. This bird somehow managed to go under the radar for over one and a half month!
It is nice to have my partner, Violet visiting the station today! She's currently studying Bobolinks migration for her master program and one of her tagged birds is actually in the area right now! This is her first time being at a professional banding station, and she'll be around for another two days and get the chance to experience the storm with others. Hopefully, we will have some exciting tomorrow to share with all of you!
-Wentao
Little Bear:
This morning Little Bear greeted us with crisp autumn air and masses of hungry, hungry hippos? No. Mosquitos. But despite these unwelcome visitors we still had a great day out at the station! We caught a total of 42 birds, 5 of which were recaptures.
We had three, yes three, new species for Little Bear this year! We finally got our adorable and precious little Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. These little cuties can build up to seven nests in a season. Talk about dedication! We also got a Ruby-crowned kinglet and an Eastern Phoebe. Eastern Phoebe's are some of our favorite birds. An interesting fact about them is that they were the first bird ever to be banded North America in 1804 by John James Audubon. What an honor!
Tomorrow is shaping up to be a very good day for both stations. We are very excited to see what birds will grace Little Bear's nets tomorrow morning!
- Natalie and Brittany
| Species | Captain Sams | Little Bear | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Recaps | New | Recaps | |
Eastern Phoebe | 2 | - | 1 | - |
White-eyed Vireo | 2 | 1 | - | - |
Ruby-crowned Kinglet | - | - | 1 | - |
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher | - | - | 1 | - |
House Wren | 1 | 1 | - | |
Carolina Wren | - | - | - | 2 |
Gray Catbird | 8 | 9 | 12 | 2 |
Northern Mockingbird | 1 | 1 | - | - |
Swainson's Thrush | 1 | - | - | - |
House Finch | 2 | - | - | - |
Ovenbird | 2 | - | - | - |
Black-and-white Warbler | 2 | - | 2 | - |
Common Yellowthroat | 15 | 1 | 12 | - |
Hooded Warbler | - | - | 1 | - |
American Redstart | 2 | - | - | - |
Northern Parula | 1 | - | - | - |
Magnolia Warbler | 1 | - | - | - |
Black-throated Blue Warbler | 5 | - | - | - |
Western Palm Warbler | 5 | - | 6 | - |
Northern Cardinal | 1 | 3 | - | 1 |
Indigo Bunting | 1 | - | - | - |
| Today's Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 52 | 37 | 89 |
| # of Recaptures | 15 | 5 | 20 |
| # of Species | 17 | 11 | 21 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 172.8 | 132.5 | 305.3 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 38.8 | 31.7 | 29.15 |
| # of Nets | 32 | 25 | 57 |
| 2023 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats | Captain Sams | Little Bear | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # Birds Banded | 2187 | 1411 | 3598 |
| # of Recaptures | 536 | 247 | 783 |
| # of Species | 54 | 58 | 67 |
| Effort (net-hours) | 8244.15 | 4786.0 | 13030.15 |
| Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours) | 33 | 34.6 | 27.19 |
| # of Days | 51 | 41 | - |
Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)